"Captain François" Topic

"The young Charles François rushed to fight for the cause of revolutionary France seeing action at Valmy. This was but the first of many campaigns and battles he would fight during the time of the Revolution, Consulate and the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte. This book contains a detailed account of the campaign in Egypt and Syria against the Mamelukes, Turks and ultimately the British under Abercrombie. This episode of François' career is especially interesting since he joined the elite Dromedary Corps, a distinction for which he was known all his lifetime. Many more campaigns followed in Europe against the Russians and Austrians, followed by battles in Spain during the Peninsular War. Here François was taken prisoner, incarcerated in the hulks of Cadiz and took part in a daring and successful escape. Promoted to officer, he took part in the fateful Russian campaign, its appalling retreat and the battles to the fall of the empire. Predictably, François rallied to his master's banner during ‘The Hundred Days' and provides us with a rare personal account of the campaign of 1815 from the perspective of Grouchy's column. An excellent first-hand account in every way."
See here
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Amicalement
Armand

You provide usefull information, but I would appreciate that you also would mention that those memoires are free to download from Gallica

link

Believe me vonW…I've been telling Armand that for years…ain't sunk in yet.

Strange as it may seem, some of us dinosaurs still enjoy having/reading a 'proper' book. So thanks to Armand.

you can print out a pdf as well

folks should be just aware that there is an alternative to spending a lot of money when there is an option to obtain such works fairly cheaply

of course Armand may be a shareholder of leonaur ;-))

Well… I have 10%… No! Just kidding my friend.

It's ok with Gallica… (but remember it's in french, not english) I only post to remember good tittles to read and of course, if there were any comments to know about something about the books much better!.

Amicalement
Armand

the memoires are great, you will find out the accidently kill of a French general when shot by a ramrod in a mock battle, or that the order to make water bottles from Bonaparte, just arrived at the day when the campaign started and they had to march – and a lot of other stories

These memoirs are certainly very interesting both for the small details that Von Winterfeldt mentions and for the light they shed on the Napoleonic soldier's mindset: Francois's 'voice' has a real authenticity about it, unlike some other more sanitised memoirs.

But the memoirs do need to be treated with some care: when he describes 'the big picture', Francois is often quoting directly from 'Victoires et Conquetes' rather than what he observed personally (though his are far from the only memoirs to do this). And one of his main claims to fame: that he was a sergeant in the Dromedary Regiment, is somewhat suspect.

Unfortunately 'From Valmy to Waterloo' isn't a very satisfactory version of the memoirs. Instead of just translating what Francois wrote, large chunks are paraphrased or summarised; the original is just so much better. But as far as I'm aware this is the only version in English and is still well worth a read.

Many thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand